Candidates for the French presidential elections in 2017 former French president and head of the right-wing opposition party "Les Republicains" Nicolas Sarkozy (left) and Mayor of Bordeaux Alain Juppe | Patrick Kovarik/AFP via Getty Images

Sarkozy, Juppé lead pack of eight in right-wing primary

PARIS — Eight candidates registered to run in the French conservative Les Républicains’ presidential primary election, to be held in November, the party said Friday night.

Former President Nicolas Sarkozy and former Prime Ministers Alain Juppé and François Fillon are considered the favorites among the candidates, who made the list after garnering the required number of nominations from elected officials or party members.

The others are Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, a former environment minister during the Sarkozy presidency and the only woman running in the primary; Bruno Le Maire, also a former Sarkozy minister; Jean-François Copé, a former head of the party; and Hervé Mariton, a member of parliament from the south of France.

Jean-Frédéric Poisson, an MP from the small Christian-Democratic Party, campaigning on “family values,” will also run in the conservative primary as a head of what the Républicains call “associated movements.”